An electronic apparatus equipped with a display and an inputting-operation device for moving a pointer to mark selections displayed on the display. It is particularly desired to improve the operability of the inputting-operation device.
A conventional electronic apparatus equipped with a conventional inputting-operation device will be explained. FIG. 6 is a front view of the conventional electronic apparatus. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes a display 2 mounted to the front side at a right portion of a case 1. An inputting-operation device 3, namely, a cross-shaped switch, and an enter switch 4 are also mounted to the front side at a left portion of the display.
The case 1 contains a circuit board (not shown) which carries components and a controller 5 for controlling operations of the components. The controller 5 operates in responsive to input and output signals from the display 2, the inputting-operation device 3, and the enter switch 4 for initiating their corresponding operations.
In the conventional electronic apparatus, the cross-shaped switch or inputting-operation device 3 is repeatedly pressed down by an operator watching a screen of the display 2 for moving the pointer to a desired task or location on the screen. In response to the pressing, a signal is output from the cross-shaped switch and transferred to the controller 5 for processing the signal in a predetermined manner to move the pointer to the desired location on the display 2.
When the pointer arrives at the desired location, the operator stops the pressing of the cross-shaped switch, and then presses the enter switch 4 to determine the task at the location for performing an operation defined by the task. Similarly, a signal is output from the enter switch 4 and transferred to the controller 5 for processing the signal to execute the task desired by the operator.
The conventional electronic apparatus permits the operation of the task to be selected with the cross-shaped switch or inputting-operation device 3 for moving the pointer and to be then executed corresponding to the enter switch 4. More particularly, each operation has to be performed at plural steps, which is unfavorable in readiness.